Lubricating device



Patented Dec. 144., 1948 UNITED STATES Parent; 'ortica anstatt,-..numcn'rmejnnvficn `Harry L. Giwoskyfand Peter*Ketelsenbliilichita,"Kans., assignorstaoeinfg. Airplane Company,`

ita; Kans., .a corporation Application Novem-bert, 1943, serial No.509,026

Y 5, crains.. (ci. isi-'551 catel air motors,I air hammers, rock drillsandthel like with lubricant borne by the4 airy supply,- previous.`devices for feeding theoifl into the air stream. have beenunsatisfactory in certain respects;y Thus, for example, some `have beenintended for, use only with certain types of air operated .equipe ment;others for operation only in certain attitudes; and even when used inthevmanner `intended-they have been unable to supply lubricant in aformand.` at times during the operationcfy the equipment which would ena-bleit.` tolbeutiw lized'most effectively.

` `It. istherefore a principalobject of ourlubrie cater to supplylubricant to the air streamv continuously throughout lthe operation of!the ma.y chine, but to regulate such supply so that-anexcessive orinadequate amount oi oilfwill notoe deliveredtoit at any time,even-for-interrni-ttenft oriluctuating operation. Also the oil'freceived?- by the airgstream from our lubricator will ybe' transportedinl-highly atomi-Zed form, as ani-ist" distributed uniformly throughoutthe air stream,` so `that the oil will'be dispersed thoroughly over thevparts of the mechanism' to be` lubricated?, for' mosteffectivelyproducing the desiredf'I'-l-fm of lubricant betweenvits relativelymoving elements; Itis also intended that our' lubricatorbe. equallyeiiective in different attitudes, while-atthesanie timeJ being light andcompact, so'that it: islladmirably suited for use with small portabletools as `Well-asf for heavy or stationary rriacliinesiv Neverthelessits capacity is adequate for supply#- ing suicienti lubricant tothe airdriven. equipA ment over' a substantial period of time, suchl as forseveral daysofnormal use of the equiplmenti Moreover, the quantity oflubricantldeliveredlxto the air stream will notvary appreciably Whetherthe. lubricator has been freshly lled with `oil or has relatively littleoil in it.v

. A` further object ofour invention-distasupply oil toithe. air driven.equipment gene'rallyin'` pro.-` portion to its need as determined notyonly-.by the period, but by the intensityfoifitsoperationg Thus, if themachine; is operated at relatively high speed, utilizing a: greaterquantity. of'lair to drive it, it will ordinarily require a greaterquantity of lubricant for satisfactory functioning than when it isoperatedat-a slower speed Con-,- sequently the supplyv of oilfto thestreamfwill .be varied generally in proportion. to;4 the air to alubricatingf device 53':

demand Suchcapabality of thusregulat'ing. the oilsupplly automaticallyalso renders our lubricator suitable vforuse with different machines oiwidely varying.capacity,utilizing the same unit without requiringadjustment. Thus an airsupplyline with which our lubricator. is asso'-ciatedernay oe-connected. selectively to di'lereni machines, ormay leadtoa number. ci machines' Whicmmayor may not be usedsimultaneously', yeteachfwil-l be lubricated appropriately While it istbeingl operatedirrespective ofthe simultaneous operittionA of some or al1-of the othermachinesl suppliedfwith .air byy such line..

Eurthermore our-lubricator is ofsmpleand inexpensive construction,-incorporating no moving parts,..and hence `is.durable and. reliableinoperation. In addition it., incorporates. no minuteoriiices whichmusttbe. cleaned frequently, Vyet all itspartsarefreadily accesible forservicingwhen necessarr- Afllthese-advantages are achieved ,Without..appreciably restricting cr-'retardingagthe flow of air. from thef sourceof supply-- totheY equipment to. be. driven, and no special tti-ngs' orYappreciable alteration 4-of lthe airsupply equipment i'srequired" fortha/adaptation. oiourz lubricatory to` present compressed air. systems.y

It may: be, desirable .for certaininstallations to. Vary somedetai'ls oithey examples oit. our lu-A bricator shown in ,ther drawings., but itsimpltant features, as defined in the appended.claims,A willbezundeirstood from' theiollowing` description of typicalAejonstructionst` V Figure 1 .isan end elevation view, .with partsbrokenl away, ,oi. one form oi our oi1er,..an dFigure,2. isa .transversesection of itK on line .2e-2.0i

Figurel. v. l

Figure 3ds aperspective View oa modified type of lubricator,parts-.beingbrokenaway, 'andfF'igure 4 is a longitudinal. verticalsection through it.

Both `farms of ourl lubricator. illustrated are intended tolie-connected directly in an air supply line:l between `a source of. airunder pressure and the equipmentto-befdrivemwhether. it be a rotary orreciprocating. airmoto-r, or a tool.`su'ch as 'a hammer, a squeezeriveter, or tliel'ilte.w The. l'ubricator, which may include a generallycylin-f dricall oasey or.. barrel l integral'with .one end' wallIllfandf: having@ cap` l l closing its othere'jnd; has air lineconnections .in vits Vopposite ends-,. such las threaded-.sockets L2intowich may be screwed complementallythreadedair hose iittings One ot4these Snicket/suisr formedi in4 the end wall.. Il) and the :other in..cap M.

. .In .additive sachen@ Oft the eilen has), .en it# which the majorportion of the air streaml flows without being impeded or diverted. Inaddition these interengaged thimbles constitute a coupling for securingthe cap and the case together.

It is largely immaterial which thimble is threaded externally and whichinternally, but in the form shown the externally threaded thimble I3,r

having the axial bore I4, is formed on the'end wall I integral with thebarrel I, whereas the complemental internally threaded thimble I5projects from the cap II.

The precise location of the interengaged inflow fand outiiow holes I6.

4 2 in the annular chamber Il, by way of holes I6, but in such passagethis portion of the air stream will be deected only slightly from themain path. The proportion of the air flowing through this branch passagewill, of course, depend upon the size, as well as the number, of holesI6. While ordinarily a single hole' in yeach thimble will be sufficient,for equipment requiring extraordinary lubrication several sets of holesI6 may be spaced circumferentially about the thimbles.

AAs the air flows through the lubricator the bypassed portion enteringchamber I7 will pick up oil from the section of the ller 2 between theWhen this air ows back into theair line, therefore, it will be saturatedwith oil, and since it merges with the main air stream at an angle, theoil laden air will be threaded portions of the thimbles between thelubricator ends is not of great importance, but preferably they aredisposed generally centrally between the end wall Il! and cap Il.Through the wall of each of the thimbles I3 and I5, near its base, isdrilled a small hole i6 between the end wall and the portion of thethimble threaded for connection with the other thimble. rSuch aperturespreferably are inclined toward each other to dispose their ends openinginto the common annular chamber l1 between ythe hollow core and thecylindrical casing wall closer together than their ends opening into theair line sockets I2. The holes are thus rendered readily accessibleVfrom such sockets for cleaning, when necessary, without disassemblingthe lubrcator.

The annular chamber Iltis substantiallyfilled witha ller ring 2 of brousabsorptive material, such as cotton. This ller may be made of bulkmaterial but preferably is of serpentine villous structure, such as wirestrung cotton, smoking -Ypipe cleaner stock, folded sinuously. Itservesthe dual purpose of afstorage medium, when saturatedA with lubricatingoil, and of a contact element for feeding yoil tothe air stream.v Aiilling hole I8 extending radially through` the wall'oi' the cap thimblel5 near end wall II affordsA communication between the cap socket I2 andthe annular chamber I1 for supplying oil to the iiller 2 when the hoseconnection is disengaged from the cap socket. This hole is sealed by thehose fitting when the lubrioator is connectedin the air line. i

The vprocedure for assembling our lubricator is very simple. Into theannular chamber I'I'is slipped the iiller ring 2 encircling the thimbleI3 'integral with the barrel Il. `A gasket ring I9 is placed over thecap thimble l Sand iitted about the cap ange. Then the cap isplaced-over the openend of the case and rotated so that the thimbles arescrewed together until the cap is drawn tightly against vthe barrel end.I v' After the lubricator has been assembled it may be set on its cap II in a pan containing oil-to a depth sufticient to submerge iillingraperture I8. Oil lflowing through this hole`will be absorbed graduallyby the iiller until it is saturated. AThe oiler is now ready to beconnected in the air line for use. Since it is substantially symmetricalabout its central plane it is immaterial which end is connected to theair supply line. The ttings must notbe screwed into sockets I 2 farenough to ,cover holes IBL* As air` now ilows through the flubricator'the larger part of the air stream will pass straight through thecorebore I4. A small part of the however,y will be by-passed through theller lio dispersed throughout the air stream to distribute the oilthrough it as a very ne mist.

Since both inow and outilow holes are freely open atvall times aconstant auxiliary ilow of air through Vtheiller in chamber I1, which isessentially proportional to the total air flow through the lubricatorand varies with such flow, is maintained continuously. Delivery of oilto the air stream ceases, 'of course, while air is not flowing throughthe lubricator, and when the ilow of air commences again the Vamount ofoil delivered will be substantially the same, for however long or briefa period the air flow may have been interrupted. f

As the oil is removed from a particular section :of the filler by rflowofair therethrough it is continually replenished with oil brought tosuchY section from the remainder of the iiller'by capillary attraction.No matter how long flow of air may continue, therefore, the air streamwill be supplied continuously with oil. Also as long as the iiller isreasonably thoroughly impregnated withoil the amount picked up by kagiven quantity of air by-passed through the chamber Il will besubstantially equal at all times. When the` oil inthe filler is toogreatlydepleted the lubricator 'may easily be relled by disconnecting itfrom the air line and again standing it on the capl II in a panof oil,as explained previously.1 v- It ,will be seen that -a lubricator of this-type is excellently suited for use with small portable air driventools, because there is no pool of oil which could be emptied into theair line what-r ever positon the lubricator may assume. Moreover therate of oil feed in al1 positions will be virtually the same. Thecapacity of the lubricator may be' varied withoutiorieiting thisadvantagamerely by making the case longer or of larger diameter.Ordinarily, however, only` machines of the stationary type require morelubricant than can be supplied for a substantial period by a lubricatorof the type described of reasonably small size.

While even for stationary machines it is highly desirable that acontinuous supply of lubricant in atomized condition be afforded, it isusually not essential tlfiat the lubricator be capable of functioningindifferent attitudes. For stationary machines, therefore, the type oflubricator shown in .Figures 3 and 4 may be employed, which possessesVall the advantages of the form described above, with the exception thatit is not capable of being used satisfactorily in very position.`Instead, however, the oil storage capacity of this modified lubricatorof comparable size is much greater than that of the rst form.

ll'Ihe alternative '-lubricator illustrated -has'a case =|f defining aninternal annular chamber#1,l

inst f asin-the 'other lubricator, butthe lowenportion of the, barrel.is enlarged vtoL form a reservoir chamber: 3, to accommodate aypo'olzof lubricating oit; Sincethis-reservoir cannotiibe lledinfthemanner describedfor our other type of lubricator, a. separate fillerl.opening isprovided in :a boss 30 projecting from thesid'e'of thereservoir. The lling holemay be closed by av screw cap 3 l. Oil :maybapouwed into thisholeof course,viithowtdisconnectingthelubricatorf'tromthea-ir linee-'1l` s f Inorderr'to feedoil.from'.thiscreservoirf'tolfthe filler 2 a ribbon 20 ofIabsorbent material, serving as a wick, is draped from the ller properdown into the oil in the reservoir. The filler is thus kept saturatedwith lubricant drawn upward from the reservoir by capillary attraction,regardless of the height of the oil in the reservoir.

The method of assembling the lubricator of Figures 3 and 4, and themanner in which it operates, are precisely the same as in the case ofthe lubricator of Figures 1 and 2, which was described above.

We claim as our invention:

1. A lubricator comprising a barrel, a tubular core extending throughsaid barrel defining a main air passage and adapted to receive in oneend thereof a tube for connecting the lubricator in an air line, saidcore and said barrel cooperating to dene an annular chambertherebetween, and an oil-impregnated absorbent filler received in suchannular chamber, the core wall having small holes therethrough, dening aby-pass branch passage from the bore of said core through said fillerand back into the core bore for ow of a portion of the air streamthrough a section of said ller, to pick up atomized oil therefrom and todeliver such oil laden air at an angle into that portion of the airstream flowing through the tubular core, and the core wall furtherhaving a filling hole, for supplying oil to said ller, between one ofthe aforesaid holes and the core end nearer thereto, such filling holeadapted to be closed by the air line connecting tube inserted in thetubular core.

2. A lubricator comprising a barrel, an end wall formed integrallytherewith, a tubular thimble integral with said end wall and projectingconcentrically within said barrel, a cap defining a second end wall forsaid barrel and having a tubular thimble integral therewith, projectingtoward said first thimble, and detachably connected with said rstthimble to hold said end Walls in assembled relationship and to form ahollow core extending through said barrel, constituting a main airpassage, and dening with said barrel an annular chamber, means forattaching -air lines to said thimbles, and an oil-impregnated absorbentfiller received in such annular chamber, each thimble having a smallaperture through its wall to afford communication between its interiorypassage and the annular chamber receiving said ller, to by-pass throughthe filler a portion of the air flowing through the lubricator to pickup oil from the filler and to deliver it to the air stream flowingthrough the hollow core.

3. A lubricator comprising a barrel, an end wall formed integrallytherewith, a tubular thimble integral with said end wall and projectingconcentrically within said barrel, a cap dening a second end wall forsaid barrel and having a tubular thimble integral therewith, one of saidthimbles being threaded externally and the other internally forcomplemental mutual en.- gagement to secure said cap to said barrel,formaannam mgr'a holiloxiaccretexteading tiircughisadfbanelcconstituting an'.unobstructedgfstraight: main-:ainpassage;andfdening.with sadbarrelzanrannnlari chamber; .ithefouter'endsnof :sai-di'thiinbl'esabeingr. threaded vinteri'iallytrfonreceiving." therein; fittings: for connection in the lubricator airline, an oilimpregnatediabsorhenttler received in such annular chamber,each thimble having an air bleed hole throughitswallatthef-innerend ofits internallyztbreaded'methaan-dfi tliegatawardthe outer end of suchinternally v,la-rleadedporfinon-,v such bleed holes,r together defining.a lov-pass branch passage-from the bore "ofsaid 'core through saidflller and back into thefeore bore, fonow; cna; .porticnoi thaair,streamfthrough aasection of said filler to pick up atomized oiltherefrom and to deliver such oil laden air into that portion of the airstream flowing through the hollow core in a direction converging withsuch air flow through the core, and one thimble having through its walla filling hole, for supplying oil to said ller, located to be closed bythe air line fitting threaded in such thimble.

4. A lubricator comprising a barrel, a tubular core extending throughsaid barrel at ya location eccentrically of its center, defining anunobstructed main air passage, and having means for connecting thelubricator in an air line, said core and said barrel cooperating todefine an annular chamber therebetween, such chamber below the corebeing of considerablyA greater extent perpendicular to the core than atthe other sides thereof, to define an oil reservoir below the core, saidbarrel having in its side a filling opening for such reservoir, anoil-impregnated absorbent ller received in such annular chamber abovethe reservoir, a wick draped from said ller down into the reservoir, andmeans defining a, by-pass branch passage from the bore of said corethrough said filler and back into the core bore for flow of a portion ofthe air stream through said filler to pick up atomized oil therefrom andto deliver it to that portion of the air stream flowing through thetubular core.

5. A lubricator comprising a circular end wall having therein a centralaperture, and a second end Wall having therein an aperture in registrywith such central aperture of said rst end wall, an imperforate barrelelement carried by said second end wall and adapted for endwise abutmentwith said rst wall, a tubular thimble also carried by said second endwall in registry with the aperture thereof, and projecting therefrom inthe same direction as said barrel element, a second thimble carried byand projecting from said rst end wall toward said second end wall. andregistering with the aperture in said rst end wall, said rst thimblebeing threaded eX- ternally and said second thimble being threadedinternally for complemental mutual rotative engagement to draw said endwalls toward each other, for moving said element into abutment and forholding it and said rst end wall in assembled relationship, saidthimbles cooperating in forming a hollow core extending through thebarrel, constituting an unobstructed straight main air passage, anddening between such core and said barrel element an annular chamber, andan oil-impregnated absorbent ller received in such annular chamber, eachthimble having a small aperture through its wall to afford communicationbetween its interior passage and the annular chamber receiving saidfiller, and inclined from such chamber toward the end wall supportingthe respective thimble and toward the center of suchthimbIe-.to br-passythrough-411e 1111er ajportion ofzxhe 'air flowing :through such vholleWcore to pickup `oi1 from the 1111er and to deliver it to the airstream,owing through thewhimblesv generally inthe direction` of ,such flow. 5

, ,y lPETER', KETELSEN.

*The followingreferenesre' efreebifthe 10 Number Number Name a's'e'Wakefield Sept. 21,1915 Leonard Apr.' 4, 1916 Hansen f Aug.3,' 1926Hansen 1--.. Nov. 2,1926 Kehle 1 Jan. 21, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS CountryDatev Germany Mar. 26, 1918 Great Britain Julyl, 1932 Germany Feb. 17,-1930

